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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239590">Kiss of the Styx</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsThunderFrost/pseuds/MsThunderFrost'>MsThunderFrost</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hades (Video Game 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Clueless Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Established Relationship, Fluff, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Men Crying, Post-Coital, References to Ancient Greek Religion &amp; Lore, Thanatos Needs a Hug (Hades Video Game), Thanatos is Terrified of Most of His Siblings (Hades Video Game), Thanatos' Gauntlet (Hades Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:06:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,001</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239590</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsThunderFrost/pseuds/MsThunderFrost</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t think that I’ve ever seen you take it off.” Than blinks slowly. He is almost entirely naked, save for the blanket that is strewn over his lap to conceal his most intimate bits from view—seeing as he’s not currently wearing any clothing, he’s going to need a bit more context in order to understand whatever it is that’s captured Zagreus’ fleeting attention now. “Your gauntlet, I mean. You’re always wearing it, even—,”</p>
<p>“Oh.” He flexes his fingers subconsciously. He’s been wearing the gauntlet for so long now, it’s easy enough to forget that it’s not simply a part of him—that it’s not simply an extension of his hand. “I…” he swallows, “does that… bother you?”</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>A headcanon about Thanatos' gauntlet (and why he never takes it off), and exactly what happens when Zagreus dies--featuring the Keres, the goddesses of violent death.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>421</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Kiss of the Styx</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I don’t think that I’ve ever seen you take it off.” Than blinks slowly. He is almost entirely naked, save for the blanket that is strewn over his lap to conceal his most intimate bits from view—seeing as he’s not currently wearing <em>any</em> clothing, he’s going to need a bit more context in order to understand whatever it is that’s captured Zagreus’ fleeting attention now. “Your gauntlet, I mean. You’re always wearing it, even—,”</p>
<p>“Oh.” He flexes his fingers subconsciously. He’s been wearing the gauntlet for so long now, it’s easy enough to forget that it’s not simply a part of him—that it’s not simply an extension of his hand. “I…” he swallows, “does that… bother you?”</p>
<p>Zagreus bites his bottom lip, his forehead wrinkling in thought. “I… wouldn’t say that it <em>bothers</em> me, exactly. I just… it can’t be all that comfortable, wearing it all the time like that. And if it’s just there to add to your aesthetic—,”</p>
<p>Once again, Than is tempted to remind Zagreus of the fact that he is reclining in bed beside him, <em>naked</em>. What <em>aesthetic</em> is he talking about? “It does a little bit more than that.” He says carefully. Teasing his fingers along the cuff of the gauntlet, he continues, “You’ve seen me take it off before. You just… probably don’t remember it.”</p>
<p>“Don’t… remember?” If Than had been hoping to steer Zagreus away from the topic, he’d picked the wrong way to go about it. The prince is sitting up straight now, the blankets rolling down from his chest to pool upon his lap as he reaches for Than’s right hand. “What do you mean? I think I would remember something like that. Unless…” his features pinch as realization dawns in his mismatched eyes.</p>
<p>“…Unless you were dying, yes.” Thanatos averts his eyes, even as he feels the searing heat of Zagreus’ touch through his gauntlet.</p>
<p>“Than, is your hand…” Zagreus’ words sputter out as he attempts to find the words, his post-coital brain not cooperating with him.</p>
<p>Thanatos takes a deep breath, before looking away entirely. “Take it off.” When Zagreus doesn’t move, he repeats himself with a bit more conviction in his tone, “Take it off, Zag. It’s… okay, really. Just…” he takes another deep breath, “don’t touch the skin. Please.”</p>
<p>He almost doesn’t want to do it. Not when Thanatos is looking at him like Zagreus will hate him forever once he sees what’s lurking underneath the gauntlet (as if that could ever happen, but still…). But he knows that it’ll only make it worse if he tries to back out now, so he turns Thanatos’ hand palm-up and pulls. At first, nothing happens—and then the gauntlet comes off a little <em>too</em> easily, leaving him sprawled out on the bed in a messy tangle of limbs and blankets, his hands wrapped around the frigidly cold piece of armor. The purple gemstone on the back of the gauntlet, which always seemed to glow with an ominous aura, sputters and dies with a sound quite similar to that which the pierced butterfly keepsake makes when he’s struck by an enemy—</p>
<p>But he doesn’t care about any of that. His mismatched eyes are focused on Thanatos’ newly bare hand. It… looks just like any other hand. He’s not sure what he was expecting to see, but it certainly wasn’t something almost identical to the hand that Than always left bare. Despite Than’s earlier warning, Zagreus finds himself reaching for it—after all, there’s no way that it could be as dangerous as Than was making it out to be. He comes within millimeters of Than’s skin before the other yanks his hand away rather violently, pressing the bare skin to his chest as he scoots back toward the headboard. His eyes are wide and panicked and a little teary as he shakes his head—</p>
<p>“I said <em>no</em>, Zagreus!” He swallows hard, “I… You <em>will</em> die. I’m not going to be the one to hurt you—it’s bad enough when I have to put you out of your misery on the surface.” He curls his fingers slowly, “You didn’t think that the Styx just… <em>took you</em>, did you? Death by natural causes is <em>my</em> domain, Zag. I’ve been there, every time. I… I…”</p>
<p>Zagreus is silent for a long moment before he inches closer to Thanatos. When it’s clear that the other won’t try to push him away again, he presses his fingers to the skin that is not usually concealed by the gauntlet and pulls Than’s hand back into his lap. “…What does it do?”</p>
<p>Thanatos frowns, “What do you mean, ‘what does it do’? I’m Death. I would think that it would be fairly obvious what it does—,”</p>
<p>“Well, yeah. But every time I come out of the Styx, Hypnos makes some quip about dying of natural causes—he never says that you killed me. So, I… I don’t know, I can’t help but feel like you’re villainizing yourself, Than.”</p>
<p>“I…” Thanatos stares at his hand—<em>is</em> he villainizing himself? He shakes his head. Only Zagreus would have such a romantic view of Death. “It… It takes the pain away. So that you can take your final breath in peace.”</p>
<p>Zagreus has to admit—that doesn’t sound awful. Is that why he never remembers how awful it felt to die of natural causes every time he was forcibly returned to the House? He remembered the pain of being caught by Asterius’ axe and Theseus’ spear… remembered the searing heat of the magma in Asphodel as it ate away at terrific chunks of his health… remembered the bite of Megaera’s whip and the kiss of Alecto’s blades and—but natural causes? He knew what it <em>should</em> feel like. Than had told him that he didn’t like being on the surface for extended periods of time because it made him feel sick, and he vaguely remembered feeling something akin to nausea after having spent an hour or two chatting with his mother in her garden, but—</p>
<p>If that is truly what Thanatos’ hand is capable of—of not only taking away that pain, but the <em>memory</em> of it as well—then he doesn’t understand why Than would try so hard to <em>hide</em> it. Okay, that’s not exactly true. Zagreus can understand why he’d want to hide it. If it really is so easy for him to take a life, there would be <em>a lot</em> of accidental death (namely, Zagreus, who couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of the other god—and who was working on getting the older god to let his hair down, so to speak, and become more comfortable in his own skin). But it’s not like his hand is <em>bad</em>. If anything, he thinks that there are a lot of mortals who would see Death differently if they knew.</p>
<p>This isn’t the first time that he wished the mortals saw Than the way that he did—hell, that he wished Than saw <em>himself</em> the way that he saw him. He’s so gentle, so loving, with a respect for human life and dignity that seems to be lacking in the House.</p>
<p>“Thank you.” He says, his voice soft. “I know that… it took a lot for you to show me this. I hope you know that I don’t take anything that you’ve done—and continue to do—for me for granted. And I… I wish that it didn’t have to be you—”</p>
<p>“No, I…” Thanatos seems surprised to have spoken up, if the slight panic on his face is any indication. It is not often that he speaks without taking great care to plot out exactly what it is that he wants to say, lest his intentions be misconstrued. So this… Zagreus reaches up to cup his face, stroking his thumb over the sharp line of his jaw in a gentle caress.</p>
<p>“What is it, Than? You know that you can tell me anything…” he keeps stroking his skin, hoping that he’s providing him at least some measure of comfort. Thanatos’ eyes flicker up to meet his own mismatched pair, before looking down at the bed once more.</p>
<p>“Do you know who takes you here, when you… die at the hands of Meg or the bone hydra or—,”</p>
<p>Zagreus cannot say that he’d ever given it any serious thought, no. “I… not really, no. I just know that I keep coming out of the River Styx, but I suppose that I’ve never really thought about how I’d gotten there.”</p>
<p>Thanatos shifts a little, looking more and more uncomfortable by the second. “My sisters, the Keres… do you know of them?” Zagreus shakes his head, “I didn’t think so. Like Meg’s sisters, they are not… <em>welcome</em> in the House. They are the goddesses of violent death. While they are drawn to deaths on the battlefield in particular, they seem to be quite fond of you.”</p>
<p>Zagreus scrunches up his nose, “That… doesn’t sound like a particularly <em>good</em> thing.”</p>
<p>“That would be because it’s not.” Thanatos starts to look a little green as he informs Zagreus, “The Keres do not have the power to kill. They are drawn to the place of death, where they simply… <em>wait</em> for the inevitable end. However long it takes.”</p>
<p>Zagreus squeezes Thanatos’ arm gently. As the god of peaceful death, he can only imagine how uncomfortable such topics must make his lover. He’s beginning to regret bringing it up again, but at the same time, something tells him that this is something that Thanatos has needed to get off of his chest for a while. This may not be the best of circumstances under which to have this conversation… but it’s a conversation that they likely should have had some time ago (probably before he’d run off to attempt to find his mother the first time). A few tears leak out of the corners of Thanatos’ eyes, which he hurriedly wipes away. He leans forward just enough to press a kiss to the underside of his eyes—</p>
<p>“That… sounds unpleasant.” He doesn’t need to hear the rest of what happens when the Keres appear—if it is making Thanatos this upset, it cannot be pleasant. “Okay, I take back what I said. Or, rather, I’ll alter it a bit—I’m sorry that I’ve put you through this over and over and—,”</p>
<p>“I… just don’t like knowing that you’re suffering. With this, I… I can make your passing peaceful. I can take the pain away—if not literally, then metaphorically… but the Keres… they <em>feast</em> on your suffering.”</p>
<p>“…Thank you.” At first, he doesn’t know what he’s thanking him for. Then, “I know that this hasn’t been easy for you. If there was a way that I could do this without dying, know that I would.”</p>
<p>Thanatos nods, “Yeah, I… I know.”</p>
<p>“If it makes you feel better—,” he helps Thanatos to put his gauntlet back one, before pressing a kiss to his metal-clad fingers. “I’m glad that you’re the one to take me, in the end. I don’t… I don’t remember dying, which I’m thankful for. I remember being in battle with whatever got me, but…”</p>
<p>“That’s good.” That seems to offer him some measure of relief, at least. “Just… I know that I can’t ask you to not keep trying to find your mother. I did that once, and we both know how well that conversation went.” Zagreus flinches—he hadn’t been very kind to Than then, had he? Even though the other was just trying to look out for him, “But if you’re going to die… just… do your best to make sure that I’m the one to bring you home, okay?”</p>
<p>Zagreus offers him a genuine smile, before dipping down to press his lips to Than’s in a gentle kiss, “I’ll do my best.” He doesn’t want to make a promise that he cannot keep—</p>
<p>But something tells him that this will be an easier promise to keep than others.  </p>
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